A Shakespeare triple play in Plymouth

The new Bay Colony Shakespeare Company aims to make theater accessible to all.

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By Natalie OrnellThe Patriot Ledger

MetroWest Daily News, Framingham, MA

By Natalie OrnellThe Patriot Ledger

Posted Jul. 26, 2014 at 8:00 AM
Updated Jul 26, 2014 at 6:11 PM

By Natalie OrnellThe Patriot Ledger

Posted Jul. 26, 2014 at 8:00 AM
Updated Jul 26, 2014 at 6:11 PM

» Social News

Ross MacDonald, associate artistic director at the new Bay Colony Shakespeare Company, said that if you’ve been watching “Game of Thrones” this summer, you have to catch the Scottish version – “Macbeth” – at the Spire Center for Performing Arts in Plymouth this week.

If you like “Seinfeld,” go see the company’s production of “Much Ado About Nothing.”

“House of Cards” fan? See “Hamlet.”

MacDonald, who is also an actor, will star as Macbeth. He grew up in England, where he fell in love with Shakespeare’s works as a teenager – but he identifies strongly as Welsh and Scottish, not English.

He said he’s especially inspired by the role of Scotland in “Macbeth” and will bring that aspect out in the performance.

“The one thing I wanted to do was not ignore Scottish elements of the play. I wanted to appeal to the history of Scotland. ... The Scots stop at nothing.”

MacDonald said people in the South Shore often think of going to Cape Cod for summer theater and Boston for winter theater.

“One of the things we want to do is make people in the South Shore realize that this is their theater company,” he said.

“We don’t put up barricades. We don’t want to shy away from being bold. We don’t want to seem clever for the sake of being clever. It’s so intimate. We want to make sure we use the same methods employed in the London Globe. In London, they’re really sharing a trip with the audience. You’re going on a journey.”

The cast includes recent graduates from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and Emerson College.

MacDonald said that if a family can’t afford the ticket prices, alternative payments can be arranged with the company.

“We don’t want to say no to anyone. We want to make sure they realize this company is accessible to all,” he said.

The nonprofit company is funded by box office receipts and donations from friends and family and is building an education program to teach theater, including a program already launched at Brighton High School.

MacDonald said he’d love to replicate the theater program in Quincy or anywhere on the South Shore and hopes to start a program for veterans as well. He joined the British Army in his early 30s before moving to the U.S. His wife teaches English in Boston.

The Bay Colony Shakespeare Company will travel to the New York Fringe Festival in August to perform “Burbage.”